Sylvia Black
Shadowtime
OUT JANUARY 16
CONTACT:
ROSIE BOYD // PUBLICIST
AVA KELLY // PUBLICIST
Sylvia Black never identified as Goth. “I wasn’t hardcore by any stretch,” she recalls. Spoken like a true goth. “I’m sure traditional goths would’ve looked at me and scoffed, but my love for the music was exactly the same as theirs.” That passion permeates Shadowtime, the new full-length from the multihyphenate Black.
Performer, producer, songwriter, singer, bassist; Syvlia Black has worn many hats in her career. But once upon a time, she was just a curious, bi-racial adolescent feeling her way through the Bay Area after stints in Alabama, Texas, and Los Angeles. Sylvia describes Shadowtime as “a love letter” to that formative period, full of contrasts and discoveries.
“When you’re young, half-black and half-white, people have their impressions of who you’re supposed to be,” says Black. “You may not feel completely included. Some of that is your own personal psychology. Some of it’s real, some of it isn’t.” Identities can fluctuate wildly in adolescence, no matter what the surroundings. “You’re trying to find yourself, so you explore lots of things.”
By 7th grade, Black’s daily soundtrack favored Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Cure, and Sinead O’Connor. Her tastes expanded as she made her way to all-ages dance clubs like The Vortex in Palo Alto. “My world opened up when I heard Skinny Puppy, Front 242, and Christian Death.” Yet simultaneously, she kept her ears open to other genres and styles, never settling into a single groove.
Music was one of many channels through which Sylvia sought out alternate states of being. She read countless books and experimented with drugs. “We tried everything. In the Bay Area, that was just part of the curriculum. And there were a lot of interesting parties at that time. My mind was always open, but all those experiences expanded it.”
Today, Black’s credits reflect her eclectic tastes and wide-ranging abilities. From fronting East Village combo Kudu with drummer/producer Deantoni Parks (Mars Volta, John Cale, Flying Lotus) and keyboardist/producer Nicci Kasper in the early aughts, to writing and recording with Black Eyed Peas (“Meet Me Halfway”), heiress Daphne Guinness, and European talent show winners, Black rarely misses an opportunity to challenge herself. As a consequence, her arms-length resume includes collaborations with producer Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex), no wave provocateur Lydia Lunch, Moby, the Knocks, Armand Van Helden, and French electronic duo Telepopmusic.
A seasoned bassist who’s played with N’Dea Davenport (Brand New Heavies), Muzz Skillings (Living Color), and Maya Rudolph’s Prince cover band (Princess), Black approaches songwriting from the bottom up. “I find a beat that I’m in love with and go forward. The bass provides the floor, but as a singer, I’m also coming in with the roof. If you can write a beautiful song with just those two elements, bass notes and the voice, that’s a job well done.”
The songs of Shadowtime first began to take shape during the wet, gray winter of 2022/2023, when an atmospheric ocean drenched Los Angeles with endless rains, but the album’s genesis started even earlier. After many years in New York City, Black had returned to California in 2018, and found herself drawn once more to dark, pulsating sounds of her teens.
Written, produced, and played primarily by Black, Shadowtime was crafted with support from longtime mix engineer and creative foil Ruddy Lee Cullers (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yoko Ono, Depeche Mode and more). The set opens with “The Snake,” Black’s beguiling vocals bolstered by punch-in-the-gut rhythms and laced through with hypnotic countermelodies; the sinewy “Talking In Tongues” follows, conjuring forth spirits both familiar and foreboding. Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner contributes to the tension underlying the stuttering “Happy In Hell.” On “Long Gone Gardens,” Black harks back to the childhood connection she felt to the natural world amidst the fruits and vegetables grown by her grandmother, yet also evokes the Biblical garden of Eden.
Singer/storyteller Joseph Keckler’s baritone anchors the chorus of Black’s rendition of “Anyway,” originally by ‘80s French combo OTO. “I was on tour with Kristeen Young and we were playing a vampire party in the heart of Halloween spirit: New Orleans. I heard that song for the first time and it’s stuck with me for years. I love that post-punk/new wave sound. I had to cover it.”
Since her first professional gig, singing in a Japanese resort hotel at age 17, Sylvia Black has explored most every sound imagineable, yet the spaces in-between remain her natural habitat. “I can go with any musical style, but this one rings truer to my soul than any other these days,” she concludes. In Shadowtime, secrets are revealed in whispers and sighs, bodies writhe and swirl through the gloom, and Sylvia Black cements her bonafides - Goth or not, it makes no matter - for all to savor.